Wharton MBA for Executives

not. I’ll write more about this AFTER i get my diploma (heh).

GCP is a lot of work and it is a rewarding experience. But it’s a lot of work. Too much work. But it’s fun….sorta.

RVD.

Our graduation party (a.k.a Prom) is on 4/24 which is also our last day of class! Get your dates, get your corsages, get your tuxedos rented, buy your dresses, buy your tickets, rent your limos….

Well, not quite. That was back in High School.

Now it’s more like…ask your wife / husband to block out that night in their blackberry / iphone, wear the suit / dress you always wear to weddings, get your car, bring your kids (or hire a babysitter)…

It’s not quite the same. But oh well.

Well, it’s time to donate back to Wharton! I went to a state school for undergrad so we never really talked much about giving back to the school but I guess things are different now.

We’re trying to get 100% of our class to participate so give a little or give a lot. just give…

RVD.

(yes, I gave).

We just finished the first half of term 6 this past weekend. We’re really almost at the finish line now. We just had our final exam in the first set of 1/2 unit classes for term 6. Next session the 2nd half of term 6 starts. So we’re 11/12 of the way done now.

As for me, I’m trying do decide what to take for the 2nd half. I actually do not need any more units to graduate! I’m already in Financial Derivatives (a full unit class) and I only needed 1.5 units this term to graduate. Since I finished Management 804 (1/2 unit), I just need to finish it out with Financial Derivatives and that’s it!

But I want to take 2 more classes. Another VC class (Wessels) and Pricing Policy (Raju). I have heard that both classes are very good.

This sounds like the perfect opportunity to utilize P/F and/or audit privileges. Maybe I’ll take pricing policy p/f but take VC for a grade. Who knows…whatever.

With only 5 weekends of class left to go, it’s really the home stretch.

A few people have asked me for my thoughts on the iPad. I don’t think I actually know any more than the next person but here are my thoughts anyway.

First some background. I’m not really an apple guy. I don’t worship Steve Jobs. I never really owned a mac. I have an iPod video and iPod touch but I don’t really know how to use the iPod video. I don’t know how to put videos on it and I don’t know how to stop songs when they are playing (I press the pause button and it pauses it, but there’s no stop button so I don’t know how to stop it). However, I have used them many times and I use one as my primary desktop every day at my current job. This is the first job I have had where I used a mac extensively. I’m still not a big fan of apple but I can see where these computers are useable, etc.

When the iPhone came out, I didn’t necessarily care to have one but a few of my friends waited in long lines and bought one the first day it came out. When they showed me their phones, I wanted one. The only problem was that it was sold out everywhere so I drove all over the city to try to get one. In the end, I paid about $100 more and just bought one on ebay.

I used that iPhone for about 6 months before I got sick of it. I switch over to Blackberry and I’ve been a Blackberry guy ever since. The Blackberry is superior to the iPhone primarily in email and text messaging. Since I do both of those things a lot, I prefer Blackberry. I also web browse a lot and web browsing is definitely better on the iPhone.

I bought an iPod touch last year and have been using that instead of the iPhone. I think it’s almost as good.

When the iPad was announced last week, I thought it was kind of cool. When I learned more about the OS and features, I stopped getting excited. It is essentially running the same OS as an iPhone so it’s like having a big iphone (or big ipod touch). Does the world need a bigger iPod touch / iPhone with no phone? I don’t think so. the 10 hours of battery life is certainly impressive and will allow me to watch a few movies while I’m on a plane so that’s good. But otherwise, it’s not much to be excited about. Some comments:

1) This would be cool if it ran OS X. Then I could run MS office, other native OS X apps, etc. This is similar to how windows based table PCs running windows 7 are pretty much the same as a regular laptop running 7. The biggest difference in a tablet is the ability to write of course. But the iPad is just an iPod touch which means that can’t play flash videos, can’t run OS X apps, can’t run MS office, etc.

2) The pricepoint is good at $499-$829. However I would probably get the $829 version and that isn’t so cheap. I would also pay $30/month for internet and that’s really not cheap.

3) E-Reader? Oh please. If you want to buy an e-reader, get a kindle or nook. An LCD screen will really make your eyes tired. I can read for hours on my kindle with no problem. I would hate life trying to read for hours on a computer screen.

4) No built in camera? sucks.

5) This will probably sell pretty well but it’s not an industry changer in the way that the iPhone changed the industry.

RVD.

At Wharton, an interview is mandatory to get into the program. Usually the interviews are conducted on a Friday or Saturday so there is class in session. This gives the prospective student an opportunity to sit in on a class and get a feel for what the classes are like, etc. Finally, the prospective student can also sit with us and have some free food and ask questions to current students for an inside scoop.

From December - March we tend to get a lot of prospective students coming in. I’d say that on a typical weekend we get 30+ students joining us.

I thought that I would take a brief moment to give some tips as well as answer some of the most commonly asked questions during these class visits, lunch, etc.

Tips:

1) Consider yourself in an interview the entire time you are here. This goes from talking to the security guard, talking to other prospective students, talking to current students, talking to admin staff, etc. If you’re an idiot to any of these people, it will make an impact and can affect your decision. There have been many instances of prospective students saying dumb stuff to current students only to have the current student later tell the admissions staff “I don’t think this candidate is for us”, etc.

2) This may sound a bit contradictory to tip #1 but when talking to current students, relax. You’re not sitting there at lunch talking to a current student to talk about how great you are. Of course we want to know you and we want to know where you work, what you do, what your future goals are, why you want to come to Wharton, etc….but we don’t really care to know why you think you’re better than us, why we should be impressed by you, etc. Just relax, tell us about yourself, and ask some questions if you have them.

3) Ask good questions. I’ve been asked some really dumb questions like “i don’t think a Wharton MBA is useful. Has a Wharton MBA actually helped the career of anyone here or anyone who graduated from here?” Well, yeah i think it’s useful and i think it has helped people. otherwise i don’t think we’d be here.

4) Don’t talk in class. Yes, I know that at the surface this may sound unwelcoming, etc. However, this is unfortunately a rule set up because of a few bad apples. We have had prospective students in the past come in and try to dominate the classroom conversation to “make a name” for themselves. We also have found that prospective students feel somewhat obligated to raise their hand and ask a question to get noticed. It’s really not necessary and it ends up doing more harm than good. So please don’t be offended…just sit there and absorb the class.

FAQ:

1) How much do you actually have to study?
A: Well, it depends. If you really want to learn all of the material and get the most out of each class and get an A+, it takes a TON of work. I’d say that it’s mathematically impossible to do with work + sleep. If I had to guess, I’d say around 40 hours/wk.

If you want to do pretty well and stay on top of your classes, learn most of the material, and end up with a B+/A-, etc…I’d say that it takes about 20 hours/wk.

If you want to learn just enough to pass your classes and get by and graduate, I’d say it takes about 10 hours/wk.

I would recommend that you allocate about 20 hours/wk. This means studying from around 10pm-1am mon-thurs + 4 hours on saturday + 4 hours on sunday. take friday off. take it somewhat easy on weekends.

2) How much math is there?
A: A lot. Wharton is known for being very quantitative and it is. There is really no way around it since many of the core classes are very heavy in quant. However, the level of math isn’t actually that high. You don’t need to know much Calculus, Linear Algebra, etc. You will need to know how to use formulas, summations, algebra, etc. You will learn all the stat you need in Stat 621. Please note that you will use that stat in later courses (e.g. Investment Management (elective)) so listen to Professor Waterman!

However, after the core classes it’s really up to you to decide how much math you want to do. If you take electives in marketing, management, entrepreneurship, etc. then there isn’t that much math involved. If you take a lot of finance and OPIM classes, you’ll have a lot more math to deal with.

If you’re comfortable with GMAT math, you should be ok with Wharton math. Sure, Wharton math is harder but not by *that* much.

3) Is the food always this good?
A: I don’t necessarily agree with the premise of the question but if you think this is “good” food, then yes it’s always this “good.” To be fair, I like the chinese food and indian food when they serve it. The carved dinner food is also pretty good.

4) How competitive is it?
A: It’s pretty competitive. The competition is sort of under the covers for the most part. Some students are very competitive and it shows while for most others, they are competitive but try not to show it too much. And of course there are some students that aren’t competitive at all. I think term 1 tends to be very competitive while terms 5 and 6 are not really.

5) Is the executive program REALLY the same as the full time MBA just a different format?
A: Yes.

6) What hotel do you stay at?
A: Le Meridien. You should know this already.

7) Is there anyone that works in (my industry) or (my company)?
A: Usually the answer is yes.

Personally, I enjoy talking to students who are not local to the bay area. Since I fly up for classes every other week, I think I have a good perspective when it comes to traveling to school, why I chose Wharton over a local school, etc.

I definitely think it’s worth flying up. My flight is only an hour so it’s not too bad of a flight. I generally do some homework and reading on my flight. On the flight back on Saturday, I just take a short nap or I talk to other classmates if we share a flight.

There are some good local schools in Southern California but they are exactly that…good local schools. They don’t have the national and international presence and reputation of Wharton. I like living in Southern California but I might move up north to the bay area someday or I might move elsewhere in the country. I want to keep my options open and go with a strong program with alumni everywhere.

Anyway, my 2 cents for what it’s worth.

Well, what do you know. I was online today reading fortune.com when I came across the 2010 list of the best companies to work for. At #1? Our old friend Jim Goodnight and his company SAS.

Too bad they’re in North Carolina.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2010/snapshots/1.html

In normal school, when the term starts, you generally have a few days or even weeks to take it easy. This period is spent easing into the schedule, getting your books ready, maybe getting warmed up with a few homework assignments, etc.

At Wharton, there is no rest period like this.

The first session of term 6 already had 3 case writeups due in MGMT 804 (venture capital). When I say case writeups, don’t underestimate. Each of the case writeups required many hours of analysis, excel spreadsheets, assumptions, etc.

This session we have 2 more case writeups due and a problem set.

And next session? We have the final exam.

That’s just for 1 class. I also have 4 chapters of homework problems to finish up in Financial Derivates which isn’t an easy class either.

I’m a bit stressed already. I’m behind already. And we’ve only had 1 weekend of classes.

We kicked off term 6 with a trip to Las Vegas! Thanks to Larry for initiating the trip. The trip was fun as usual. Y’all know the saying…what happens in Vegas…

Shout out to all of those who made the trip:

Chi-Hee
Suki
Judy
Pamela
Tina
Josephine
Larry
Robert
Mike

Time to go to sleep…

We just got back from our GCP trip to Madrid, Spain. It was awesome. Sure, we spent 99% of our time working with the IE team but that other 1% of time that was spent on fun stuff was great.

Ok maybe I exaggerate a little bit. But we were working from around 10am - 9 or 10pm pretty much every day (except for the 1 free day that they gave us). Since we were in Madrid we were able to go out for a late dinner at 11pm. We did have a great New Years in Madrid staying up all night with all of the other Madrilenos.

And of course I ate a ton of jamon!

The IE team is great and we all go along just fine. I think we’ll have a great project!